


are you there, doc mcstuffins? it’s me, shiro

by narada-talis (sarensen)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, M/M, Purring Keith (Voltron), Season/Series 07, Sickfic, shirobirthday2019, sick shiro comfort keith, sick shiro is very dramatic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-11-06 22:30:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17948342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarensen/pseuds/narada-talis
Summary: The clone's body isn't taking kindly to having a foreign soul inhabiting it, so it tries to get rid of it the only way it knows how.Written for the following shirobirthday2019 prompt: sheith - sick Shiro and comfort KeithExcerpt:“K...Keith,” he manages after a few tries, throat still aching and voice scratchy, “You’re the one.”“I’m the what now?” Keith blinks, catching Shiro’s hand where it’s currently pawing the air in search of his cheek.“You’re the one,” Shiro repeats weakly, “If I die, I want you to lead Voltron.”





	are you there, doc mcstuffins? it’s me, shiro

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Carry692](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carry692/gifts).



> Happy birthday, Shiro. Sorry I made you suffer on your special day 😅

"Keith, you're out," Krolia declares, sharing a secret smile with Shiro as Keith thumps back into his seat with a groan. The viewports around them shimmer into hexagonal waves of dissipating energy, replacing the carefully constructed digital asteroid field of Krolia's simulation with the gentle blues and greens of the nebula they're currently traveling through.

The Black Lion vibrates lightly around them, and even disconnected from her as he is, Shiro can feel her amusement at Keith's grumbling in the back of his mind. It's soft - only the gentlest of purrs - and yet it's still too loud for Shiro, adding to the pounding of his head. He winces, leaning back on one of the shelf panels in Black's cockpit.

Krolia glances at him, frowning slightly. "Shiro... Are you alright?"

Predictably, Keith is out of the pilot's chair immediately and in Shiro's space, looking concerned. "Shiro, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing," Shiro waves him away before pinching his brow again as the headache spears into the space behind his eyes. "Really, Keith. I'm fine."

It's been a few quintants since Shiro's soul was transplanted into the clone's body. He's been healing well enough - this body is strong, after all, custom made to survive all the tests Haggar's Druids could throw at it. It does not, however, appear to like his soul very much. He's stable, thanks to Allura, but he can't seem to shake this headache, or the weakness from his limbs, or the waves of nausea and dizziness that have been overtaking him.

So he's been resting a lot, and taking his time to adjust to the new body, to only having one arm, to feeling like he's fast asleep even when he's awake in the cockpit next to Keith. Earth is still phoebs away, and if he's going to make this journey, he's going to have to take it slow. Besides, he's had worse than a little headache before - much worse. Nothing a few pain killers can't fix.

So he waves Krolia and Keith away with vague noises that he just needs some rest, pushing himself up off the panel

only

the world isn't supposed to be that way around and... why are there two Keith's suddenly and...

Shiro feels himself tipping unstoppably forward, and everything goes black.

*

He wakes up in Keith's arms. Being half Galra explains a lot about Keith: the hot-headed attitude, the stubbornness, the bravery and unquestioning loyalty. It also explains how he's able to lift Shiro, who is a good deal bigger than Keith and quite a bit heavier, in his arms like he weighs nothing.

Shiro isn't entirely sure whether he's swooning because of the dizzy spell he just had, or because of how strong Keith's arms feel around his shoulders and thighs. When he tries to ask Keith what happened, he finds his throat dry and swollen, aching badly enough to prevent him from speaking. 

And okay. Maybe this isn't just a headache after all. He sniffs miserably, shifting around until he can bury his face in the crook of Keith's neck. His skin is starting to burn, the headache needling into the very top of his head.

The inside of the Black Lion's cargo hold - currently doubling as their sleeping quarters - is cold enough to feel like bliss to Shiro's fever-hot skin. He's eternally grateful that the lights have been dimmed to a pleasant glow just bright enough for them to see where they're going. 

The single bunk is only large enough to fit one person. Shiro's been spending the most time in it, with Keith sleeping on and off in the cockpit and Krolia on a pallet on the ground. ("You need the rest more than I, Shiro," she'd insisted, and Shiro hadn't had the strength of will to argue.)

Keith lays him down gently on the pillow, crowding over him. A blessedly cool hand presses onto Shiro's forehead lightly as Keith admonishes, "You've been pushing too hard."

He looks down at Shiro in what is probably concern but which Shiro mostly admires as a very pretty frown, and really, his eyes are so beautiful, the Galra-purple irises so unique and—

"K...Keith," he manages after a few tries, throat still aching and voice scratchy, "You're the one."

"I'm the what now?" Keith blinks, catching Shiro's hand where it's currently pawing the air in search of his cheek.

"You're the one," Shiro repeats weakly, "If I die, I want you to lead Voltron."

"Shiro, you're not going to die." Keith growls, kissing Shiro's knuckles very gently for how rough his voice sounds, "Not again. I won't let you."

He disappears for a few moments, and Shiro must lose consciousness for a second, because when he comes to again Keith is sitting next him, pressing a damp cloth to his forehead. He says, "Allura said this body might take a while to fully meld with your soul."

"I guess it wants me to buy it a drink first," Shiro chuckles weakly, squinting up at Keith through bleary eyes. 

Keith just frowns at him, draping the damp cloth over Shiro's entire face. The bed shifts as he gets up, and Shiro lies still, content to listen to the sounds of supply drawers being opened and plastic packets being torn open. 

"Here," Keith's voice comes from very close again, and now he's helping Shiro sit up a bit, tucking the rapidly drying cloth over one shoulder. He presses a straw to Shiro's lips; it's water, deliciously cold on his sore throat. His heart is racing, body shaking lightly with chills. The fever is getting worse. He aches all over, the clone body reacting to its foreign 'invader' the only way it knows how.

Beside him, Keith gets increasingly distressed. He's... actually _fussing_ , which is endearing in the same way it is to watch a mother shark with her pups.

"You're so good to me, Keith," he murmurs, reaching out to tug on a strand of black hair, "Such a good boy..."

He can barely make out Keith's blush in the dim light of the cargo hold, but he knows it's there by the way Keith shifts uncomfortably and grumbles low in his chest. 

"You're delirious," Keith tells him, and Shiro agrees a little bit.

However - "I'm fine," he insists, "Just need you to stay with me."

Keith sighs, looking back toward the Lion's cockpit dubiously, reluctant to leave his position like the good leader he is, despite needing the rest almost as much as Shiro does, and despite having Krolia there to look after things in the interim.

Shiro does his best puppy dog impression, and it must work, because Keith grunts and starts taking off his paladin armor, laying every piece in a neat little pile on the ground next to the bunk before slipping in beside Shiro dressed in nothing but a pair of boxers. He turns around, wiggling in until his back fits snugly to Shiro's front, and Shiro doesn't hesitate to wrap his arm around him and pull him close.

They've been quiet in the cool darkness for only a few minutes before Shiro starts to feel it - a low vibration, the softest quiver of Keith's back against his chest. As Shiro listens it starts to grow louder, until he can hear it, a quiet rumble rising and falling with each breath Keith takes. It's a delicate kind of sound, trembling from deep inside Keith's chest right through both their bodies and into the back of Shiro's spine. He gets so wrapped up wondering what it is that he hardly notices the way his headache is starting to recede, so curious about the sound he doesn't realize his throat is starting to feel better. When he shifts his arm from around Keith's waist to curl over his chest, he feels the vibrations most strongly there - a deep rumble like Keith's own little engine turning over.

Shiro allows himself to just... experience it for a moment in wonder. "Keith. Are you... purring?"

The purring abruptly stops.

"No," Shiro says hastily, "It's... kind of nice."

Hesitantly, softly at first but almost immediately growing louder, Keith starts back up again. "Krolia," he says, then pauses, "...my mom... says that the vibrations are in tune with our electromagnetic fields. It's a Galra thing, supposed to help us heal. I just... thought that..."

"Maybe it might help me too?" Shiro smiles, fondness for Keith spreading in a warm haze over his entire body. At least, he thinks that's what it is - his fever from earlier seems to have dissipated almost entirely.

"Is it?" Keith asks tentatively, after a while, "Helping, I mean."

Shiro considers. The headache has mostly abated, the chills of his fever soothed by the warmth of Keith's body, and he feels more clear-headed than he has in quintants.

"Yeah," he answers, scooping Keith close and kissing his hair lightly, "I think it is."

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on [tumblr](https://narada-talis.tumblr.com) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/solooutomg) if you like!


End file.
